920 (61). (Die 3groschenoper / The Threepenny Opera (1931, G.W. Pabst), with video essay

By Kevin B. Lee

[Editor's Note: This is the latest entry in House contributor Kevin B. Lee's Shooting Down Pictures, a record of his ongoing quest to see every title on the list of the 1000 Greatest Films compiled by They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?]

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One of the seminal works of 20th century musical theatre gets a lavish cinematic reworking by G.W. Pabst (Pandora’s Box). Perhaps more than Bertolt Brecht’s infamous libretto or Kurt Weill’s song score, the standouts of this production are Andrej Andrejew’s lush, atmospheric Victorian production design and Fritz Arlo Wagner’s masterful camerawork, featuring some of the most elaborate and expressive tracking shots attempted in early sound cinema. But the majority of Weill’s music is regrettably omitted to accommodate expository scenes whose poorly recorded sound deadens the proceedings, despite Pabst and Wagner’s envelope-pushing efforts to add cinematic movement to dialogue. Pabst’s blending of naturalistic period detail with expressionist shadows creates a seductive subterranean reality, lays the groundwork for film noir, but its allure runs counter to the disconcerting, confrontational unreality of the Brecthian aesthetic. The one element that runs counter to the proceedings is Lotte Lenya as Jenny, whose aloof presence injects a disruptive counterrythm to the Pabst’s clockwork choreography of the frame. She singlehandedly offers a Brechtian rebuttal to the impeccable prestige picture trappings that surround her.

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